Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends

anymore? Are we aiming our influence at a society that has moved out of our sights? Or, have we in our attempts to be relevant, compromised some of the very distinctives we should be confronting the world with?” – Ken Malmin Today’s church must be relevant to people and to society. When a church is relevant the people are better equipped to take their Christianity to the streets because the message of the church addresses the real issues that people face. In an attempt to be relevant to our culture today there are many churches that are trying various things. Most of these have come out of the church growth movement from the last forty years. “seeker - sensitive” movement. This movement seeks to make church services more “relevant” or at least more palatable and entertaining to people who are used to receiving information through multi-media. It attempts to rid itself of religious language and terminology (sometimes known as “Christianese”) for the sake of those who are not familiar with Christianity. 1. More subdued worship 2. Virtual elimination of anything that might offend (e.g. tongues, prophecy, dancing, etc.) 3. Shorter services and preaching 4. Adults-only services 5. Contemporary music (perhaps even some secular) 6. Modern instruments 7. Fast moving presentations There is the Some of the characteristics of such churches would include the following: Attempts at Relevancy

113